Hotel guests get cranky quickly without Wi-Fi access, says study

A majority of hotel guests can't even wait 10 minutes to connect their device to the Internet.

According to a recent survey conducted by British hotelier Roomzzz, 65 percent of hotel guests admit that they can wait no longer than seven minutes to log onto their hotel's Wi-Fi.

What's more, one-third of surveyed guests said they request the Wi-Fi password at check-in.

"Our research shows that free Wi-Fi is paramount to guests because without it they are unable to check email, stay in touch with family and friends over social networks, check the news and, most importantly according to the research, read the weather forecast for where they are staying," said Roomzzz spokesman Mark Walton in a statement.

So what happens if guests are unable to access a hotel's Wi-Fi?

Well, one-fourth of respondents said they refuse to stay at a hotel that doesn't offer free Wi-Fi. For those who would stick around, more than 60 percent claim they would feel lonely, bored and cut off from the world.

Even worse, nearly one in 10 guests (nine percent) said they would enter a state of panic.

Traveling parents are most likely to be the ones panicking, with 52 percent of adults indicating that Wi-Fi is absolutely necessary when traveling with kids.

Meanwhile, only 10 percent said they would be "relieved" to not have Wi-Fi in their hotel.

For those lucky guests who are able to connect without issue, the time spent in their hotel room is likely to consist of checking the weather forecast, ordering food and streaming entertainment on their device.

"A quarter of those we polled now completely ignore the TV in their hotel room and rely instead on hotel Wi-Fi to stream their most-watched TV shows or listen to their favorite music via Internet services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify and iTunes, all of which need higher speed Wi-Fi," added Walton.

The study found checking the weather to be the most popular use of hotel Wi-Fi, with another 12 percent using it to order take out or delivery.

If there's a key takeaway from the survey as it pertains to the hotel industry as a whole it's that complimentary Wi-Fi access has almost become an expectation among guests, which means not offering it is almost not an option.